Chapter Cotillon to Coup d'Etat of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Councils Ecumenical Councils. There are twenty-one recognised, nine Eastern and twelve Western.
   THE NINE EASTERN: (1) Jerusalem; (2 and 8) Nice, 325, 787; (3, 6, 7, 9) Constantinople, 381, 553, 680, 869; (4) Ephesus, 431; (5) Chalcedon, 451.
   THE TWELVE WESTERN: (10, 11, 12, 13, 19) Lateran, 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, 1517; (14, 15) Synod of Lyon, 1245, 1274; (16) Synod of Vienne, in Dauphiné, 1311; (17) Constance, 1414; (18) Basil, 1431-1443; (20) Trent, 1545-1563; (21) Vatican, 1869.
    Of these, the Church of England recognises only the first six, viz.:
   325 of Nice, against the Arians.
   381 of Constantinople, against “heretics.”
   431 of Ephesus, against the Nestorians and Pelagians.
   451 of Chalcedon, when Athanasius was restored.
   553 of Constantinople, against Origen.
   680 of Constantinople, against the Monothelites (4 syl.).

Counsel Keep your own counsel. Don't talk about what you intend to do. Keep your plans to yourself.

“Now, mind what I tell you, and keep your own counsel.”- Boldrewood: Robbery Under Arms, chap. vi.

Count Kin with One (To), is a Scotch expression meaning to compare one's pedigree with that of another.

Count not your Chickens ... (See Chicken .)

Count out the House (To). To declare the House of Commons adjourned because there are not forty members present. The Speaker has his attention called to the fact, and must himself count the number present. If he finds there are not forty members present, he declares the sitting over.

Count Upon (To). To rely with confidence on some one or some thing, to reckon on.

Countenance (To). To sanction, to support. Approval or disapproval is shown by the countenance. The Scripture speaks of “the light of God's countenance,” i.e. the smile of approbation, and to “hide His face” (or countenance) is to manifest displeasure.

“General Grant, neither at this time nor at any other, gave the least countenance to the efforts ...- Nicolay and Hay: Abraham Lincoln (vol. ix chap. ii. p. 51).

   To keep in countenance. To encourage, or prevent one losing his countenance or feeling dismayed.
   To keep one's countenance. To refrain from smiling or expressing one's thoughts by the face.
   Out of countenance. Ashamed, confounded. With the countenance fallen or cast down.
   To put one out of countenance is to make one ashamed or disconcerted. To “discountenance” is to set your face against something done or propounded.

Counter-caster One who keeps accounts, or casts up accounts by counters. Thus, in The Winter's Tale, the Clown says, “Fifteen hundred shorn; what comes the wool to? I cannot do't without counters.” (Act iv. s. 3.)

“And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
And I ... must be belee'd and calmed
By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster”
Shakespeare: Othello, i. 1.

Countercheck Quarrelsome (The). Sir, how dare you utter such a falsehood? Sir, you know that it is not true. This is the third remove from the lie direct; or rather, the lie direct in the third degree.
   The Reproof Valiant, the Countercheck Quarrelsome, the Lie Circumstantial, and the Lie Direct, are not clearly defined by Touchstone. That is not true, how dare you utter such a falsehood, if you say so, you are a liar, you lie, or are a liar, seem to fit the four degrees.

Counterforts in permanent fortification. The sides of ditches strengthened interiorly by buttresses some fifteen or eighteen feet apart. (See Revetments .)

Counter-jumper A draper's assistant, who jumps over the counter to go from one part of the shop to another.

Counterpane A corruption of counterpoint, from the Latin culcita (a wadded wrapper, a quilt). When the stitches were arranged in patterns it was called culcita puncta, which in French became courte- pointe, corrupted into contre-pointe, counter-point, where point is pronounced “poyn,” corrupted into “pane.”